After participating in the "Million Man March" in Washington, D.C., Monday, Afro-American Society President John Barros '96 said the march "heightened the sense of hope."
Barros said people from the crowd "acted like we were family members. There was a strong fraternity, a lot of love -- warmth."
At 5:00 a.m. on Monday, Barros said he left Howard University with a group of about 10,000 black men and women.
He said he arrived at the Capitol by 7:00 a.m., and remained standing until the gathering finally dispersed at 6:00 p.m.
Barros said although the march was non-denominational, it was still a "very spiritual thing" involving prayer and speeches from a variety of religious sects, from Muslims to Catholics.
Controversial Nation of Islam leader Minister Louis Farrakhan organized the march.
Barros said wide-spread media and police reports numbering the gathering at 400,000 participants "disappointed but did not surprise" him.
"That figure really says a lot about what the media was trying to do with the march," he said.
Given that the Mall in Washington is about a mile long and the crowd was densely packed, Barros estimated that well more than 1 million people must have been present.
Barros said although the media attempted to show that black women disapproved of the all-male march, "the support of the black women was amazing. I was in shock."
The event "honored our black women for all these years of heading a single-family household," Barros said.
The majority of the day was spent listening to speakers, Barros said.
Farrakhan spoke during the last two hours, from 4 to 6:00 p.m. "He caught the crowd's attention, touching on a lot of areas," Barros said. "It was great."
Barros noted earlier speakers such as Stevie Wonder, Jesse Jackson and mayors and governors from across the country, but said he was most impressed by the young speakers.
"The crowd listened to really young kids, [who were] articulate, very impressive," Barros said. "A 10-year-old girl read a poem." "It was an interesting way to address the issues of the march ... incredible," Barros said.
Barros said the event leaned toward the sentiment of "atonement. A call for action, not protest."
The people who came to the march came "not to ask the government for something, but to ask ourselves for something ... things we haven't done, and things we have done wrong," Barros said.
Barros said speakers and participants talked about the necessity to atone for a lack of education and employment in the black community. "A looking in the mirror type thing," Barros termed it.
The event was an effort "to call black men back to the household, to the communities," Barros said.
Barros spoke to several men who had driven all the way from Los Angeles and said, in general, "There were a lot of people from the West Coast."
The march had a "tremendous effect" on the crowd, he said.
As the crowd dispersed and even on the return flight from Washington, Barros often overheard many remark "now we have to bring this back to our community."
